Surprise Honey, I Just Added $60,000 to Our Debt |
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It was really difficult to decide on a title for this article. My other thoughts were “Surprise Honey, I Decided to Postpone Our Retirement” or the much more boring, “I Still Don’t Like Lexus’ Holiday Commercials.”
Last year I wrote about how I will boycott Lexus for likely the rest of my life. I thought that they’d get bad public relations from their commercial campaign suggesting that giving a Lexus for Christmas is a good surprise. I guess they either didn’t market test the commercial or that I’m in the vocal minority.
If you have a minute, view the commercial yourself. It starts off with a husband calling his wife and lying to her about being stuck at work. This is a little white lie and I’m not going to punish Lexus too much for it, but you’d think they could come up with something better. The wife leaves the house to pick up their kid at sports practice and there’s a new Lexus with a bow waiting in the driveway.
I’d like to imagine the reaction my wife would give if I did something like that. I would surely be in the dog house. There are Christmas gifts and there’s giving one that’s 50% more than what the average household earns in a year. The only way I could get away with that is if I also announced that I made a million dollars earlier in the day. Since that million dollars would be around $600,000 after taxes, I might be able to get away with using 10% of it for an extravagant toy. However, even that is stretching it.
Is there a circumstance where you would consider a $60,000 purchase without discussing it with your significant other? Let me know in the comments below.
This post deals with: ... and focuses on:Worst Ideas
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January 3rd, 2008 at 10:46 am
I think my wife would gladly take the Lexus…she would use it to drive to the closest divorce attorney!
January 1st, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I didn’t realise the car was fully optioned. From the ads it looks like an RX to me, which start at 37K. Now, apart from that, yes, my wife would kill me too.
December 27th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
I don’t like the premise behind the commercial either and mere mortals could not go out and buy the car without repercussions. But the one couple I know of where someone got a car for xmas, the car purchase was planned, just not for a specific day. So when I watch that commercial I kinda thought they had talked about it and were going to buy a luxury sedan
December 27th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Lexus knows that most Americans spend money with a short-term mindset. They might “know” that spending the money on a car that will drop in value like a rock is a bad idea, but they don’t have to pay the consequences of the decision in a massive way for years to come. They can enjoy the luxurious car immediately.
I have always laughed at these commercials when the announcer dude says “make this a December to remember …”
I can promise you it WOULD be a December to remember if I bought this stupid car without my bride’s input.
I have no problem with Lexus or owning a Lexus. I have a problem with the perceived deception between spouses.